


sounds like u might be a bit butthurst about this

by Beefmaster



Category: Original Work
Genre: M/M, Threesome, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-04
Updated: 2021-02-04
Packaged: 2021-03-16 07:15:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29203452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beefmaster/pseuds/Beefmaster
Summary: Snapshots in Edward and Whitey's relationship
Relationships: Edward Button/Charles "Whitey" Whitehurst
Kudos: 1





	sounds like u might be a bit butthurst about this

**Author's Note:**

> You've heard of friends-to-lovers, get ready for lovers-to-friends.
> 
> Much love to Cedar and Algie for looking this over for me, and much hate to Cedar for coming up with the title.

**Cambridge, 1938**

His name is Henry, and he wants to sleep with Edward and Whitey at the same time.

“It’ll be fun,” Edward insists. “He’s very handsome. And he thinks you’re handsome too.”

“He knows who I am?” Whitey asks. They’re sitting on Whitey’s bed, ostensibly revising, but mostly they’ve just been talking.

“Of course. Whitey, we spend all our time together. If he knows about me, he knows about us.”

Whitey doesn’t really know how to feel about this. On the one hand, it makes him scared and uncomfortable to think that strangers know his secret. On the other hand, the possessive part of him is thrilled. They might get to sleep with Edward, but at the end of the day these boys know Edward is  _ his,  _ his friend, his lover, his- whatever it is they are, exactly.

“Have you ever done that before? With two people?” Whitey looks down at his textbook.

“I haven’t. Have you?”

_ Of course not,  _ Whitey thinks.  _ I’ve never even kissed anyone but you.  _

“No,” he says instead. 

“I think it could be fun.” Edward rests his hand on Whitey’s thigh. “Two gorgeous men at once, what could be better?”

Edward purses his lips in a silent request for a kiss, which Whitey can’t help but give him. Edward moves his hand to Whitey’s bicep and squeezes. It’s wonderful, in the way that kissing Edward is always wonderful, and Whitey wonders how Edward could possibly want more than this.

Whitey must not be as nice to kiss as Edward is.

“So what do you say? He wants to have us over Friday night.”

“Alright. I don’t have anything else going on.”  _ And I’d do anything to make you happy.  _

“Excellent.” Edward kisses Whitey again, and Whitey runs his finger along Edward’s jaw. 

_ I love you,  _ he wants to say.

“You should sleep over,” he says instead.

Edward nods. “Alright.” He smiles in that charming way that makes White my feel like he’s falling off a cliff. “But no fooling around just yet. I need you to quiz me for my anatomy exam.”

Henry is expecting them at 7, so Edward and Whitey show up fashionably late at 7:05. As they wait for Henry to let them in, Whitey fiddles with his tie.

“What if this is a mistake?” he asks. “What if he didn’t mean me? What if he was talking about some other friend of ours, like Roger, or Colin, or-”

“Whitey, he meant you. Trust me. He wants you. I want you. It’ll be great.” Edward looks around furtively, then gives Whitey’s hand a quick squeeze.

“Hello,” Henry says as he pulls open the door. “Don’t you two look handsome?” 

Henry is quite a bit older than Whitey imagined. He knew Henry wasn’t a student, but he assumed he was 25,  _ maybe  _ 26\. Instead, Henry appears to be well into his thirties. His house is a decent size, and fairly nice. 

“How do you two know each other?” Whitey asks, as Henry leads them to the kitchen.

Henry smirks. “Oh, we’ve got mutual friends.” He looks over at Edward, who smiles bashfully. 

“What do you mean by mutual friends?” 

“Henry is friends with Dr. Persall, my organic chemistry professor.” Edward says.

“David’s really more of a colleague, but yes. He recommended Edward to be my research assistant this summer. He tells me Edward’s got a real knack for chemistry.” Edward bites his lip. 

“So you’re a professor,” Whitey says.

“I am. Would either of you care for some wine?” Henry grabs a bottle of red wine and a corkscrew from the counter.

“I’d love some,” Edward says. “I adore Bordeaux.”

Whitey frowns. Edward doesn’t know anything about wine. Edward very  _ proudly _ doesn’t know anything about wine, so Whitey’s a little annoyed that he’s pretending to for Henry’s sake. This isn’t the charming, confident Edward he knows. The Edward he knows doesn’t bite his lip, or duck his head, and he certainly doesn’t lie to impress men. 

Henry pours wine for all three of them. As he hands a glass to Whitey, their hands brush in a very purposeful way. Whitey looks at his shoes. 

“Shall we move to the living room?” Henry offers. He puts his hand on Edward’s lower back and leads him to the sofa. Whitey trails close behind. 

Edward sits on the sofa, and Whitey is quick to sit beside him, leaving Henry to sit on the armchair. 

“So, what are you studying, Whitey?” Henry asks. 

“Economics.”

“That’s very impressive.” Henry takes a sip of his wine.

“Well, I’m not really good at much else.” 

“He’s being modest.” Edward places his hand on Whitey’s thigh. “Whitey’s very smart.”

“I’m sure he is. God, I love watching you two together.”

“Oh yeah?” Edward grins.

“I’ve seen you around town, on your little dates. You’re so beautiful.”

“Thank you.” Whitey expects Edward to correct him, to tell him they aren’t dates, they’re just friends getting dinner and going to the park and renting rowboats. If they have sex afterwards, that’s entirely separate. Instead, Edward just moves his hand further inside Whitey’s thigh. Whitey takes a big gulp of wine.

“You know, I’d love to see you kiss. Would you kiss for me?” Henry licks his lips.

“I think we can manage that,” Edward says demurely. He turns toward Whitey, and places a hand on his cheek. 

The kiss is a little dirtier than Whitey expected, a little too much tongue a little too early. Edward starts moaning almost immediately, which is odd. Edward can be vocal, sure, but usually not from a kiss. Either Edward is a lot more turned on then Whitey realized, or he’s putting on a show for Henry. When Edward pulls away, his eyes are dark.

“Fuck, that’s gorgeous,” Henry says. Whitey’s face feels warm. “Seriously, you two are so hot.”

“Would you like to kiss him?” Edward asks Henry.

“I very much would.” 

Edward scoots back on the couch, leaving space for Henry to slide in. Whitey feels like he should say something, but he can’t think of what to say. Instead, he’s silent as Henry takes hold of his chin and brings their mouths together.

Kissing Henry is different than kissing Edward, but not as different as Whitey thought it would be. His mouth has the same taste, the same feel as Edward’s, but he’s far more insistent. He uses his hand to guide Whitey’s mouth where he wants it, leaving Whitey feeling a bit out of control.

“Shit, Whitey,” Edward says. “You look- you look so good.”

Whitey pulls back from Henry. Edward’s got his hand on Henry’s waist, but his eyes are focused on Whitey. They stare at each other for a moment, breathing heavily. Then, Edward tugs gently at Henry’s shirt.

“Kiss me now,” he says, and Henry complies. He shifts over and cups Edward’s cheek, then he kisses him.

_ It’s alright, it’s alright, it’s alright,  _ Whitey tells himself. It’s alright to see them kissing. Edward kisses lots of boys. Whitey knows this (although Henry isn’t really a boy, is he? He’s a man). Whitey knows this, and he lives with it, but he generally doesn’t like to think about it. But here it is, right in front of him: Edward kissing another man, sliding his hand along his bicep, arching his back as Henry’s arm moves lower, toward his backside. 

Whitey can’t take it anymore.

“I think, ah, I think I ought to leave.” Whitey stands up.

“Whitey? What’s wrong?” Edward is looking at him with concern, but his hand is still on Henry’s shoulder. 

“I just, ah, I just rather not do this. I’m going to go.” Whitey turns around and flees to the kitchen. It isn’t until he’s there that he realizes he has to walk back through the living room to get to the front door.

“Whitey?” Edward says quietly from the doorway, as if not to spook him.

“Just give me a moment, then I’ll go.”

“Alright, take your time. We can leave whenever you want.”

“No, Edward, you don’t- you don’t have to leave. You and Henry can- you know.” Whitey’s voice breaks a little at the end.

“Whitey.” Edward comes over and cups Whitey’s face in both of his hands. “I’m not going to let you leave alone, not when you’re like this.” Edward runs a thumb along Whitey’s cheekbone. “I’m sorry if I pushed you into this. This was a lot.”

“It’s alright.” Whitey leans forward until their foreheads are touching. “I just want to go home.”

“Do you want to come back to my place? If we leave now, we can still hear  _ Band Waggon _ .”

Whitey smiles. Edward loves listening to those radio variety shows, and Whitey loves watching Edward as he listens. 

“Alright. I’ll come over.” Then, a bit quieter, “Thank you.” 

Whitey wraps his arms around Edward’s neck, and Edward kisses him on the nose. 

“Is the fun back on, boys?” Henry asks. He’s leaning against the door jamb, smirking.

“Sorry Henry,” Edward says, pulling away from Whitey, “we’re going to call it a night.”

Henry frowns. “What, both of you? Edward, just because Whitey’s leaving doesn’t mean you have to.” Henry slinks behind Edward, and begins rubbing his shoulders.

“No, thank you. Maybe some other time.” 

“Come on, where’s your adventurous spirit? You don’t have to do everything your boyfriend does.”

Edward looks uncomfortable. “I know, but I really rather take him home.”

“Alright.” Henry lets go of Edward’s shoulders. “You know, it’s too bad. I really was looking forward to taking you on as a research assistant.”

“What?” Edward spins around to face Henry.

“I just mean, I think you’d make an excellent research assistant. But I wouldn’t want to take on anybody I couldn’t trust.” Henry straightens the collar of Edward’s shirt. “Can I trust you Edward?”

“I- I mean, I-” Edward looks over to Whitey. He looks lost and unsure, which makes Whitey angry. Henry doesn’t get to do this, not to Edward, not on Whitey’s watch. Whitey loves Edward, and when you love someone, you take care of them. 

“Edward and I are leaving,” Whitey says. “Come on, Edward.” He grabs Edward’s hand and leads him out of the house without looking back.

“You’ll find another job, you know,” Whitey says, as  _ Band Waggon _ ends.

“Hmm?” Edward lifts his head from its position on Whitey’s shoulder. His usually perfect hair is mussed. 

“For the summer,” Whitey clarifies. “You’re very smart, I’m sure any professor would want to work with you, and you wouldn’t even have to sleep with them.” 

Edward kisses Whitey’s ear. “Thank you. Although I don’t exactly mind sleeping with professors.” 

Whitey turns onto his side, so he’s facing Edward. Edward smiles at him.

_ Be with me,  _ he wants to say,  _ and only me. I love you, and I want to make you happy.  _

But he doesn’t say anything.

Instead, he puts his hand on Edward’s waist, and kisses him. Edward gasps into his mouth, before kissing him back. 

“I want you,” Whitey whispers, pulling away slightly.

Edward smiles. “You’ve got me.” 

Whitey know it’s not true, not really. But it’s good enough.

  
  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Couldn't end without linking the OFFICIAL Whitey/Edward playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2xwNbtE8mNMbpYzyzl65cB


End file.
